Established on 1 June 2017, the Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA) is an arts development organisation that develops and promotes Malaysia’s cultural economy. CENDANA is a ground-up effort that advocates and uplifts the cultural ecosystem.

CENDANA’s role is to:

Advocate for the Arts;

Build a vibrant and sustainable cultural economy;

Bridge private and public stakeholders; and

Increase national and international engagements with Malaysian arts.

CENDANA also serves as an advocate for policy change to spur the growth of the industry.

CENDANA aspires to elevate Malaysian arts, and to showcase its diverse beauty on the local, regional and international stage, and to nurture the arts community so that it remains vibrant and sustainable.

CENDANA is the much-needed conduit between practitioners, regulating bodies, private investors, businesses, policymakers and consumers. To ensure that arts and culture transforms into a true cultural economic driver.

Stimulating demand for Malaysian arts form the wider public and trade

Increasing opportunities of success for Malaysian artists and increasing quality of work

Advocate for policies and frameworks that encourage sustainable development of the cultural economy

For Malaysia to be known for its art and artist and for Kuala Lumpur to be recognised as a cultural and creative city.

To develop the arts and culture sector into a true cultural economic driver.

Strategy

Milestones

In the past one year, CENDANA has engaged with practitioners, policy makers, stakeholders and the public with a sense of urgency in delivering on its mandate - guided by the 3 strategic pillars of Energising, Empowering and Reorganising the cultural sector. These 3 strategy act as our compass and have resulted in the following milestones for 2017:

Over RM 37 million in Economic Impact

Delivered a 15.9x Economic Multiplier

A total of 1,719 Industry Players Upskilled

More than 350,000 People Reached

CENDANA's Data Collection

In a year, CENDANA collects and analyses a considerable amount of data, collated both internally and externally. Collecting data is a way of making sure that we achieve all of our key performance indicators, as well as a commitment to practicing accountability and transparency.

As an organisation, we constantly search for new ways to present our data so it does not just look good but it also makes sense. We believe that data collection can help us assess better on what we can improve on, and establish an indispensable value for arts and culture as well as monitor the impact of our investments.

So, how does CENDANA collect data?

With CENDANA, data is collected on a regular basis.

Upon completion of every strategic and tactical effort,

all beneficiaries, partners, etc. are required to submit a post-mortem/post-event report;

They are also required to complete an economic survey online.

The data collected is then analysed, evaluated, and translated based on international principles and methodologies for the purposes of reporting.

Building an ecosystem doesn’t happen overnight.

Below is a timeline of activities that CENDANA carried out in its first year of operation.

2017

June 2017

Commences operations as CEDU, or the Cultural Economy Development Unit.

July
2017

27th

MOU with Adelaide Festival Centre

Empower

To foster cultural exchange and sharing of artistic performances between Malaysia and Australia.

Hosting masterclasses and knowledge sharing activities by Australian arts industry professionals in Malaysia.

Professional development internship for local art practitioners at the Adelaide Festival Centre.

27th

Let’s JAM @ GEM

Empower

Supported and participated in a sharing session on strategies and tactics in the entertainment industry covering festivals, the digital space, events and cultural and creative industry think tanks.

A curated event held once every month to showcase pop-ups, creative workshops and live performances to enrich the local community.

CENDANA supports RIUH's performances and workshops.

Sept2017

6th

Official launch of CENDANA

Set up through MyCreative Ventures with RM20 million in seed allocation to stimulate demand for the arts, empower communities, and reorganise policies to spur the growth of the arts and culture industry.

The Borak Arts Series is the only regional performing arts conference in Southeast Asia that brings together artists, presenters, producers, intermediaries and funders for a series of panel discussions, roundtable sessions, trade opportunities, networking platforms and performances.

The conference hosted 177participants from across 12 countries, with CENDANA as a sponsor.

16th - 17th

RIUH @ Malaysia Day

Energise

Second edition of RIUH was curated to coincide with Malaysia Day celebrations.

CENDANA supported the inaugural KL Biennale that hosted more than 350,000 online and offline visitors at the National Art Gallery.

Organised by the National Art Gallery, the Biennale featured works from 12 countries including Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Palestine, Phillipines, Singapore, Sweden and Thailand.

The KL Biennale aims to position KL as a must-visit city in the global art map, and to promote local contemporary art at the international level. It ran until 30th March 2018.

The KL Collectors' Weekend 2017 (KLCW 2017) hosted a Southeast Collectors' Familiarisation Trip which included gallery visits in the city centre, a visit to the KL Biennale, and networking sessions with 50 artists and professionals from the visual arts sector.

CENDANA sponsored KLCW 2017 with the intent to introduce and promote Malaysian art to top Southeast Asian collectors.

16th - 17th

Stakeholder Engagement @ Singapore

CENDANA had5 meetings with stakeholders in Singapore which included Singapore Arts Museum and National Gallery Singapore on their role in supporting the local arts community.

25th

Gallery Weekend KL 2017

Energise

Empower

GWKL 2017 involved approximately 350 contemporary artists and more than 20 galleries/institutions, and attracted over 2,500 visitors. Founded in 2016, GWKL presents a host of exhibitions, curated projects and talks to raise the profile and marketability of contemporary art.

Worked with the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia to advocate for better policies for arts and culture performances performed in small, medium and public spaces (<500 capacity) as well as to streamline the PUSPAL process to prevent last minute cancellations of live concerts and events.

Through this effort, CENDANA successfully lobbied to reinstate two major concerts that were about to be cancelled. These concerts contributed approximately RM25 million to KL's economy.

After engaging with the Minister of Communications and Multimedia to advocate for better policies for the arts, the Minister in charge wrote to the Minister of Federal Territories proposing a joint effort to streamline existing policies to prevent last minute cancellations of live concerts and events.

20th - 21st

RIUH @ Tropical Fiesta

Energise

Building on its success in 2017, RIUH continues to curate performances and workshops to provide the local community with cultural and creative content.

Art In The City (to be launched in September) features enlarged images of artworks by grassroots and legendary artists on several buildings across downtown KL in partnership with DBKL.

More than 1,000 artworks were submitted for public voting, with more than 20,000 online votes logged.

This program partnered with DBKL for provisions in display spaces and licensing, and further exposed corporates like Bursa Malaysia and Maybank Foundation to visual arts, while showcasing other activations such as an art city trail and giant murals in downtown KL.

Feb 2018

6th - 10th

Singapore International Foundation: The Artists for a Better World (ABW) Programme 2018

Organised by the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) to foster a community of practice that harnesses the power of arts and culture to create positive social change. The programme saw 29 international participants representing 13 nationalities journey through a series of webinars and two study visits in Singapore and Malaysia respectively.

Founding CEO of CENDANA, Ms. Izan Satrina, was one of the many key leaders and practitioners who welcomed the ABW participants with exchanges of insights and open discussions on how the Malaysian community is shaping an inclusive community through the arts.

7th

"KL as a Cultural and Creative City" Report Launch

Reorganise

A yearlong engagement based on research, data gathering, focus groups, and surveys with 309 industry participants and 400 audience members.

The report which is an effort by CENDANA and its strategic partners serves as a guide for stakeholders to refer to in developing the cultural and creative economy for the rest of Malaysia.

The report also introduces 5 building blocks for a successful cultural and creative economy, and outlines the aspirational target for the industry to achieve a GDP of 3.0% and create 125,000 jobs by 2022.

A creative entrepreneurship platform made available to 25 of Malaysia's best creative entrepreneurs.

Valued at over RM250,000per person that focuses on individuals looking to accelerate their Music, Literature, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Fashion and Crafts businesses.

Supported by CENDANA, the programme included a series of dialogues, a 4-week rigorous online course, intensive mentorship with global creative professionals, and placement with a world class international community of like-minded creative entrepreneurs.

CENDANA engaged with DBKL's Socio-Economic Department (which is in charge of licensing and permit), to advocate for better "Standard Operating Procedures" that would streamline the permit application and event cancellation processes at PUSPAL and prevent last minute cancellation of live concerts and events.

Mar 2018

17th - 1st April

Bandar Aktiviti Seni Kuala Lumpur (BASKL)

Energise

A school holiday campaign featuring a collaborative effort with cultural stakeholders to stimulate demand, participation and consumption of the arts.

With 14 participating locations across KL, the campaign attracted more than 600 visitors.

After engaging with all relevant stakeholders including Unit PUSPAL and industry players on the issue of last minute cancellations of live concerts and events, DBKL has agreed to a "Standard Operating Procedure" (SOP) that would streamline the permit application and event cancellation processes at PUSPAL to prevent last minute cancellation of live concerts and events as well as several other matters i.e. reduction of DBKL blanket fees (wang cagaran) for arts and culture events performed at small, medium and public spaces (<500 capacity), gazetting of arts and culture venues, etc. that would spur the growth of the arts and culture industry.

This is pending a Cabinet paper to be prepared by CENDANA for the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia to be tabled to Cabinet for approval.

8th

Meet & Greet with Siti Saleha @ Carcosa Seri Negara

Energise

As part of the BASKL campaign, 10 lucky winners had the opportunity to get up close and personal with actress and BASKL ambassador, Ms. Siti Saleha.

Offering an avenue for Malaysian artists to tap on MATRADE's export promotion funding programmes such as Market Development Grant (MDG) and Service Export Fund (SEF) - with a view to provide opportunities for local creatives to tap into the export markets.

Official launch of the Mobility Funding Programme which provides support to local artists to present high-quality works that express and enrich Malaysia's artistic diversity locally and abroad.

This masterclass was designed for practitioners, festival directors, artist, performers, producers and venue operators within the arts ecosystem and facilitated by experienced professionals from the Adelaide Festival Centre.

Earlier this year, CENDANA made a call for emerging arts administrators to intern for 6weeks with the OzAsia Festival's programming team at the Adelaide Festival Centre.

This collaboration with the South Australian Government was launched through the Adelaide Festival Trust Centre in July 2017 to enable cultural exchange and sharing of artistic performances between Australia and Malaysia.

Ms. Koe Gaik Cheng was selected among 15 applicants for the internship opportunity that will take place from 7th July until 19th August 2018.

24th - 25th

MOU with Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE)

Energise

Empower

A collaborative partnership between CENDANA and KOFICE.

CENDANA will be facilitating an exchange programme entitled "The NEXT Fellowship" where a Korean fellow will be conducting research on the performing arts scene in Malaysia for 3 months.

CENDANA will provide networks and contacts to facilitate the research where the outcome of the research will be shared with CENDANA.

Overview of performance to date (January - June 2018)

44 arts activities/events supported by CENDANA

121 industry players upskilled as a result of support from CENDANA

KL as a Cultural and Creative City Report endorsed by MyCreative Venture Sdn Bhd's Board of Directors on 16 March 2018

Value of economic multiplier from CENDANA's funding - to be ascertained end of 2018

Kuala Lumpur as a Cultural and Creative City Report – This report is an evidential analysis of the cultural and creative economy of Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley, with a proposed action plan to establish it as an internationally-recognised creative city.

This project was initiated by ThinkCity and British Council Malaysia. Following that, other public and private partners participated, and this included CENDANA, the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM), Hasanah Foundation, Yayasan Sime Darby, and MyCreative Ventures.

It was undertaken by a consortium comprising My Performing Arts Agency (MyPAA), Frost & Sullivan Malaysia, and Tom Fleming Creative Consultancy, a leading international expert on the cultural and creative economy. It was initiated in recognition of Kuala Lumpur’s immense potential for development and growth in this sector. Click here to read the report.